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a statutory combination of two or more corporations by the transfer of the properties to one surviving corporation.
any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise.
an act or instance of .
Contemporary Examples

The proposed US Airways and American Airlines merger would be the fourth major airline combination in the past five years.
U.S. Justice Department Files Lawsuit to Block Merger Between American Airlines and US Airways Miranda Green August 12, 2013

But the industrial logic of the merger is graphically evident: Fewer flights, more crowded cabins.
Bad News for Fliers Clive Irving April 29, 2010

Lewis netted $110 million in salary, stocks, and bonuses from 2001 to 2007 for his merger work.
The Merger That Ruined Lewis Nomi Prins September 30, 2009

Wylie added that without the merger, the industry would be in peril.
The Victims of the Penguin & Random House Merger: Literary Agents Ella Delany November 27, 2012

The merger would give the new US Airways company 67 percent of daily departures from the airport.
U.S. Justice Department Files Lawsuit to Block Merger Between American Airlines and US Airways Miranda Green August 12, 2013

Historical Examples

We find that every departure from one merger is entrance upon another.
The Book of the Damned Charles Fort

This was the first trust—what they call a merger—but it occurred in politics.
As A Chinaman Saw Us Anonymous

If there had ever been any possibility of the merger going through Colonel Mabens attitude would have effectually stopped it.
United States Steel Arundel Cotter

St. John says that this merger was made at the instigation of the Mine Owners.
The I.W.W. Paul Frederick Brissenden

There may be a merger; there may be a holding corporation; there may be a lease.
The Value of Money Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr.

noun
(commerce) the combination of two or more companies, either by the creation of a new organization or by absorption by one of the others Often called (Brit) amalgamation
(law) the extinguishment of an estate, interest, contract, right, offence, etc, by its absorption into a greater one
the act of merging or the state of being merged
n.

1728 in legal sense, “extinguishment by absorption,” from merge (v.), on analogy of French infinitives used as nouns (e.g. waiver). From 1889 in the business sense; not common until c.1926. General meaning “any act of merging” is from 1881.

The union of two or more independent corporations under a single ownership. Also known as takeovers, mergers may be friendly or hostile. In the latter case, the buying company, having met with resistance from directors of the targeted company, usually offers an inflated (overmarket) price to persuade stockholders of the targeted company to sell their shares to it. Such mergers often have been financed by junk bonds.

Note: Especially common in the 1980s, hostile takeovers have become highly controversial. Some contend that they bring needed infusions of capital and efficiency to the targeted company. Others argue that, having borrowed heavily to finance the merger, the buyer is forced to sell valuable assets of the targeted company to pay off its debt.